


A Week In The Life Of A DJ

by cybernxvaz



Category: No Straight Roads (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life, i don’t know what to tag this as, i’ve never used ao3 before what do i do help, there’s gonna be spoilers in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27722063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cybernxvaz/pseuds/cybernxvaz
Summary: Have you ever wanted to know about the life of DJ Zam, host of Vinyl City’s hit pirate radio show, Zam FM? Well, now you can! Follow Zam has he navigates through a week in the life of one of the city’s many stars.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	A Week In The Life Of A DJ

Monday  
7:30am

Music rang throughout the bedroom as the alarm to wake up went off. The song was set to Bunk Bed Junctions newest single. The duo’s most recent rock tune started out quite somber and calm, but had a hard-hitting drop once the chorus came along. It was the perfect song to work as an alarm clock sound. Calm to get the eyelids to open softly, and then a loud guitar riff would wake someone up quickly.

This was the case for Zam, a resident of the famous Vinyl City. He had a solid forty-five seconds or so of peace before the guitar woke him up a bit more. He let out a small groan, reaching over to turn his alarm off. The man changed his alarm sound pretty regularly, since he was interested in all of the music Vinyl City had to offer. He had only changed it to the new BBJ song a couple of days ago, so he wasn’t quite used to Mayday’s unintentionally rude awakening.

Zam sat up in his bed, stretching his back while doing so. He typed in his phone password and headed straight to the mail app. Only a couple of business emails, which he was currently too tired to respond to. There was also an online coupon for a restaurant in Akusuka, which didn’t have a familiar sounding name. But hey, Akusuka wasn’t far at all. If he looked up the restaurant in a map, he could probably walk there easily with no problems.

Looking out the window, Zam could see that it was still a tad bit dark out, and the sun should start to rise at any given moment. As much as Zam loved his cozy apartment, it didn’t have the greatest view of the sunrise. If he were to look closely, he might be able to catch a glimpse of it. But alas, probably not today. The young man let out a huff, looking through his phone. News? Nothing new. Weather? Sunny with some clouds. Temperature? A bit warm. Texts? Just one from Zuke, saying that he might not be home when Zam visits. Zam grinned a bit, it was nice of Zuke to give him a heads up.

Zam finally rolled himself out of bed, setting his phone down and heading to the bathroom. He got into the shower, humming a tune to himself. The walls of the apartment were a little thin, but since Vinyl City was one of the music capitals of the world, his neighbors probably wouldn’t mind. After that, he brushed his teeth, got dressed, grabbed some leftover pizza from the fridge, and put it in the microwave. Zam checked his phone for the time. 8:46am.

“7:30...why did I even set my alarm that early?” Zam mumbled to himself. He didn’t have to head over to the sewers until noon. After he ate breakfast, he would probably have about three hours to kill.

Three hours. Three whole hours! That’s a lot of time. Thankfully, Vinyl City had plenty to do. There were plenty of places to go and people to meet, and you definitely could find something to do to kill three hours of time. He could just stay here in the Cash Tech district. He could say hi to the locals, maybe even say hi to DJ Subatomic Supernova, if they crossed paths. Zam could also just head straight to the sewers. He would be able to hang out with Mayday and Zuke, and when it was time to work, he could just head into the other room. Maybe he could walk to the Dream Fever district and back. Not only would it kill a lot of time, but Zam would be able to see the sights, all while getting in some light exercise. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea! He could kill an hour just from the walking alone, and also maybe even stop and stay in Dream Fever for a while, maybe go to one of the museums or something.

Zam reached for the pizza on his plate, only to realize that he ate it all. He didn’t think it was possible to zone out that much while eating, but apparently, it was. It was just past nine now, Zam noted to himself as he put the plate in the sink. With a key in his hand, he locked his apartment door behind him, and headed out.

After heading down the elevator, Zam put on his headphones and started walking through the districts. Since he was heading to the Dream Fever district, he decided to put on some of Eve’s music, which had a nice, calm vibe to it. Zam walked through the celestial Cash Tech district, the cute Akusuka district, the golden Natura district, and the industrial Metro Devision district, and finally, the surreal Dream Fever district.

Dream Fever was a district based off of the art created by Eve, one of the most famous artists of NSR. All NSR artists were all highly recognized, of course, but Eve was known for the power she held as Tatiana’s right hand woman. Zam didn’t even know that much about Eve. She had such a mysterious aura that made you question the meaning behind all of her creations. The few things Zam knew about Eve came from Zuke, and even he didn’t prefer talk about her that much.

Nonetheless, even if you didn’t understand Eve’s art, it was still cool to walk through the district and look at it. While in Dream Fever, Zam stopped by a couple of the museums, looking at all of Eve’s surreal creations. He wasn’t exactly an artsy kind of guy, but he could still appreciate Eve’s art. Maybe he could ask Zuke about some of it later. Using his phone, he snapped a photo of the art pieces that peaked his interests the most, before deciding that he should start walking back.

Zam left the Dream Fever district, headphones still over his ears. Some people he passed by waved to him, and he even got a few high-fives. Despite running one of Vinyl City’s most popular radio shows, he didn’t really consider himself to be super famous. He was known, but not NSR-known or Bunk Bed Junction-known. He considered himself to be more of a person someone would see on the street and think to themselves, “hey, I think I know that guy!” even if he wasn’t well known, he still loved interacting with the locals of Vinyl City.

After a while of walking, Zam had reached the festival plaza. His legs were a bit sore, but at least he got some steps in. He headed into the nearby alley that held the manhole that led to the Bunk Bed Junction sewers. Right near the manhole was the Hungry Hideout Restaurant, where Zam normally ordered lunch. He approached the small restaurant, immediately being recognized by Aunty, the restaurant’s owner.

“Zam! Having the usual today?” Aunty asked the radio host.

“You know it!” Zam replied, pointing a finger gun at her after taking off his headphones. His usual was the classic Hideout Burger. He would sometimes order two depending on the day, and today was a day he ordered two. The small restaurant was an open sit-down place, but Zam normally just took an order to go, and ate it whenever he felt hungry at work. After getting his food from Aunty, he decided to take a moment to check those business emails that he was too tired to read earlier. Looked like there was some fan-mail, a couple of emails from people not from the city, someone from a local Vinyl City news company, and an email from a completely unknown address. Zam was about to check that email, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“Zam! Hey!”

Zam turned around, putting his phone down once he saw who was heading towards him. “Hey, Zuke! What’s up, man? I thought you said you would be out today.”

“I just got back from the store.” Zuke caught up to the other, reaching his hand out for a high-five, which Zam gratefully accepted. “I had to run out and get a new drum head for my snare.”

“Really? Did something happen to your last one?”

“...Yeah. I kinda got a bit “into the zone” while practicing the other day, and my stick it the drum, and uh...yeah.” Zuke shrugged.

“Wait, did you break it?” Zam asked, unable to stifle a small laugh.

“Yeah. Mayday got a real kick out of that one.” Zuke sighed, then looked over at the nearby entrance to the sewers. “You ready to head down?”

“Lead the way.” Zam nodded, following Zuke as he headed towards the manhole.

Zuke opened the manhole that led down into the sewers, with Zam closing it once he got through. As the two of them climbed down the ladder, Zam could hear the sounds of a guitar aggressively shredding from another part of the sewers. He walked into the living room, and the shredding became louder before it stopped.

“Wh- Ellie! You’re not allowed to be on the couch!” Zuke ran over and picked up his energetic pet alligator.

“Aw, hi Ellie!” Zam waved to the pet, who let out a small noise of happiness at seeing Zam.

A few moments after the shredding stopped, footsteps could be heard heading towards the two boys and alligator. Coming downstairs was Mayday, Zuke’s best friend and roommate, as well as another good friend of Zam’s. “Hey Zam!” She waved to him, before turning to Zuke with a nervous smile. “...Hey, Zuke.”

“May, I know you love Ellie, but she’s not allowed on the couch.” Zuke told her, getting straight to the point.

“But whyyyy?” Mayday whined. “It’s not like she gets fur everywhere!”

“Yeah, but she can cause chaos! Remember when she tipped the couch over and you banged your head on the floor?”

“It only hurt for a few hours...” She pouted.

Zuke sighed. “I just don’t want anyone getting hurt. I know she doesn’t even mean it, she can just get a little crazy.” He looked down at the gator, who had the same goofy expression on her face that she always did. He then looked back up at Zam. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! You’re completely fine.” Zam reassured.

“So, anything special on the list for today’s show?” Mayday asked, turning away from Zuke.

“No, not really.” Zam shrugged. “I’m just gonna be monitoring what plays on the radio today, and accepting some calls from listeners near the end of the day.”

“Casual day?” Zuke asked Zam.

“Yep. But a casual day is still a good one!” He nodded in return.

“Alrighty, we’ll let you do your thing! We’re gonna be practicing upstairs!” Mayday told Zam.

“Yeah, just let us know if we’re being too loud, and we’ll try to tone it down.” Zuke said, setting Ellie down on the floor before heading upstairs, waving goodbye to Zam.

“Alright, see you guys later!” Zam waved to the two of them before heading over to another room.

Passing through the doorway, he turned on the lights that illuminated the room, making it go from completely darkness to bright yellow. Zam set his bag of food on the desk and sat down, turning on his computer. He spun around in his office chair, looking around the room, waiting for his computer to start up. Once it finally did so, he opened up all of the programs he needed to get the radio set up for the day. Zam put his headphones over his ears, and turned on his microphone, ready to speak.

“BAM! What’s up, Vinyl City? You’re listening to Zam FM, the hottest radio station to listen to all of the newest and greatest hits! My name’s Zam, and I’m gonna be bringing you some tunes to get you through your Monday. I’ll also be accepting calls from listeners later today, so be sure to call in around 5pm, you guys know the number! To start out your afternoon, here’s “Four Plus” by Bunk Bed Junction.”

After finishing his introduction, Zam turned off his microphone as the rock music started to play, which would spread out to all of the radios in the city that were playing his station. Now that the clock had hit noon, he would now spend the next five hours monitoring what music would play on the radio, and an extra hour accepting calls and talking to fans. It seemed boring to some, which was sometimes true, Zam did occasionally get bored. But for the most part, he loved his job dearly.

Zam would put all kinds of music on the radio. While everyone in town knew about Bunk Bed Junction and the NSR Artists, Zam also liked to play the music of small, local underground artists on the radio. He always enjoyed helping people, and he found that broadcasting the locals’ music was one of the best ways to do it.

Despite it being Monday, the most dreadful day of the week for most, time flew by pretty quickly. Before he knew it, it was a few minutes before five, and it was time for Zam to finish the day by accepting calls from listeners. He adjusted his headphones, and turned on his microphone as the song that was currently playing came to an end.

“Alright, and that was Sayu’s newest single! I hope you guys enjoyed what I had to offer today, but for now, we’re letting the music die down, and I’m going to be accepting some callers onto the show for a little bit! So be sure to call in with a question in mind, you guys all know the number.”

And just like that, calls started rolling in. Zam grinned, eager to talk to fans. With the simple click of a button, the first caller was accepted onto the show. “Zam FM, this is Zam!”

“Oh, wow! Okay. Can you hear me?” A male voice asked from the other side of the call.

“Loud and clear!”

“Ok, good! Hi! My name is Daniel.”

“Hello, Daniel!” Zam waved, even though he knew Daniel couldn’t physically see him. “What’s your question?”

“Ok, I wanted to ask, have you ever interacted with any of the members of NSR?” Daniel asked. “And if not, who would you want to meet the most?”

“Oooh, that’s a great question, Daniel.” Zam leaned back in his chair. “I actually have met one, I’ve met DJ Subatomic Supernova once.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah! I met him at a nightclub one time...about a year ago, I think? We talked for half an hour or so.” He recalled the memory. “Not enough for him to remember me, but it was cool!”

“Is he has egotistical as everyone claims?” Daniel asked.

“No, I wouldn’t say so, actually! He seemed like a pretty good guy. But hey, it was at least a year ago. Things might’ve changed since then.” Zam shook his head, then remembered the other question Daniel asked. “And, for an artist I’d want to me the most...probably Sayu! Because I’d wanna see how that’d work, since she’s digital.”

“That makes sense!” Daniel said, his voice sounding eager. “Ok, thank you!”

“Thank YOU, Daniel. Take care!” Zam nodded.

“Bye!”

With the click of a few more buttons, Daniel was gone, and a new caller was on the show. “Zam FM, this is Zam!”

This process repeated for the next hour or so, and Zam was able to get twenty or so callers in. People asked about what it was like being friends with Mayday and Zuke, how he felt about recent events in Vinyl City, and more.

“Thank you for calling in, have a good evening!” Zam said goodbye to one last caller. “Alright everyone, that was the last of it for today! Be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to listen to more of the great music that this city has to offer. My name’s Zam, and you’ve been listening to Zam FM! BAM! Peace out.”

And just like that, Zam had ended his show for the day. He turned off his equipment with a grin, knowing he went through another successful day. He grabbed the leftover bag from his food, turned off the lights, and closed the door behind him before heading to the living room.

“Hey Zam! How was the show today?” Mayday looked up from her phone.

“Pretty good! How was practice?” He asked in return.

“Also good, we just wrapped up a while ago.” Zuke nodded.

“Cool, cool!” Zam grinned, making his way over to the other side of the room.

“Let me guess. Master Wolfe?”

“You know me very well, Zuke.” Zam set his trash bag on the floor momentarily, then started up the arcade game. “How did you even find this machine, anyway?”

“I found it in a junkyard!” Mayday grinned. “Zuke tried to convince me to not get it because it would be a hassle to carry home-“

“Which it was.”

“I’m not done. Anyway, I didn’t listen to him, and brought it home, we refurbished it, and the result was Master Wolfe!” She finished.

“Wow. Man, I dunno what it is, but this game is just so addicting.” Zam shrugged as he started the game.

“I can tell, you always have to play it at least one time before you leave.” Zuke chuckled.

“What can I say? It’s not everyday when your friend has an arcade machine in their living room, you gotta make the most of it.”

The pixel-like sounds of the shooting filled the room, Zuke got up from his seat on the couch to watch Zam navigate the small on-screen wolf through the sky. Despite only playing for as long as he’d known BBJ, which was just about two months, Zam had gotten some skill from playing this game so frequently. But, alas, Zam messed up, and the words “GAME OVER” appeared on the black screen.

“Aw, come on! I was so close to getting on the leaderboard again.” Zam groaned lightly as the top five highest scores flashed onto the screen. At the very top was Zuke, who had the highest score of all. The next three slots were taken up by Zam, and the final name on the scoreboard was...

“Kliff.” Zam looked at the name with a sigh, then looked over at Zuke. “You still haven’t heard anything from him?”

“...Nope.” Zuke said after a moment of silence.

“Damn.”

Kliff’s actions and impact on Vinyl City were no secret. Ever since Mayday and Zuke helped the NSR artists reclaim their districts, no one had heard from him sense.

“Do you think he maybe went to another town? Hopped on a train?” Zam questioned.

“Frankly, I don’t know where he is, and I don’t care.” Said Mayday, still lying down across the couch. “He used us for his own gain. And if he did hop a train, he might be doing what he did to us to someone else! He’s a bad guy.”

“I know. It just...” Zam leaned down to pick up his trash bag. “It doesn’t sit well with me that he disappeared without any sort of warning.”

“I kind of have to agree with both of you on different things.” Zuke crossed his arms. “Yes, he’s a bad dude, I agree with that, May. But also, on the other hand, it is weird that he just left. Not even Tatiana has heard from him.” He finished, getting a groan of disapproval from Mayday when Zam’s side of the argument was mentioned.

“Well, hey. Focus on the positive!” Zam said, trying to brighten up the mood. “He’s gone now, and after the reputation he made for himself in Vinyl City, he’s not going to be coming back anytime soon.”

“And if he does, it’s not going to be a warm welcome.” Mayday agreed. “Not from us, not from NSR, not from anyone.”

“...Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Zuke nodded.

“Well, I should probably get going. Gotta get some rest for tomorrow!” Zam said to the two of them, starting to walk towards the exit.

“Tomorrow a big day or something?” Mayday asked, turning around.

“Well, I just said that because I have to work earlier in the morning tomorrow.” Zam shrugged. “But when you live in Vinyl City, every day is a big day!”

“That’s true!” She agreed, also earning a nod of agreement from Zuke. “Alrighty then, see ya tomorrow, Zam!”

“Bye guys!” Zam waved before turning around and making his way up the ladder.

After heading up the ladder and existing the sewers, Zam threw away his bag in a nearby trash can, then put on his headphones and started to walk home. Unlike his long walk towards the Dream Fever district in the morning, his apartment building wasn’t very far from the alleyway. Entering from the central festival plaza, the Cash Tech district was the first district you would come across if you went through every district in the city. About ten or so minutes later, He entered the apartment building, headed up the elevator, unlocked the door, and headed inside his home.

Zam took off his shoes at the front door, untied his hair, and then took off his headphones, setting them on the table. He headed to kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, opening it and taking a sip. He wanted to go to bed early so he could wake up early tomorrow, so he still had about an hour or so of time to kill. Since there wasn’t anywhere he needed to go, Zam sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. He flipped through channels until he found something interesting: a true crime show. Zam always had a mild interest in true crime, since Vinyl City had a very low crime rate.

“I’ll just watch this episode that’s on now, and then I’ll go to bed.” Zam mumbled to himself.

Unfortunately, that ended up not being the plan. The show was so interesting, that Zam ended up watching the next episode that was on after the first one, and then the next episode after that. Each episode was an hour long including commercial breaks, so it wasn’t until Zam got a phone call that he realized how late it was.

“Nine...Nine twenty six?!” Zam asked out loud as he saw the time. As for the phone call, it was a number Zam didn’t recognize. He grabbed the remote to turn down the TV, then picked up his phone to answer the call.

“Hello?” Zam asked, taking a sip from his water bottle.

“Hello.” A deep voice over the phone responded. “Am I talking to Zam from Zam FM?”

That deep voice was a voice that anyone living in the Cash Tech district would recognize. It caught Zam off guard, he choked up and started coughing on the water he had drank.

“...Is everything alright over there?”

Zam pulled himself together. “YES! Yes. Hi! That’s right, I’m Zam. Uh, how may I...help you?”

“Hello, Zam. As you may know, I am DJ Subatomic Supernova, one of the six artists of NSR.” The other voice introduced himself, even though Zam knew who it was immediately. “I’d like to follow up about the email you sent me a couple of days ago, asking for an interview.”

Zam blinked in surprise. He had completely forgotten that he composed an email to the DJ. “Um, yes. I did...send you an email.”

“I called to say that while I am a busy man, I am available for an interview at some point this week. I am available on Friday and Saturday evening.”

“Friday and Saturday evening?” Zam repeated, barely believing what was currently happening to him. “Friday evening...Friday evening would be perfect!”

“Of course. Since it is getting late and I have places to be, I will follow up tomorrow with more details.” DJ Subatomic Supernova told Zam.

“Alright, thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome.” He said before ending the call.

Zam took his phone away from his ear, looking down at the screen.

He just got off of the phone with DJ Subatomic Supernova.

THE DJ Subatomic Supernova.

Zam was going to interview THE DJ Subatomic Supernova.

“Oh...my...G...” Zam whispered to himself. He couldn’t even begin to think that this was happening. An NSR artist was going to be on his show. A wide grin on Zam’s face was growing by the second. His mind was racing, he knew he would have trouble sleeping tonight, but he didn’t care. His goal was one step closer to being accomplished.

Zam stood up from the couch, and headed to his bedroom. After changing into proper sleeping clothes, he crawled into bed and pulled his blanket over him. He plugged his phone into the nearby charger, doing one last thing before ending the day.

Texting group chat with “Zukeinni” and 3 others

Zam: GUYS!!  
Zam: You’re literally not gonna believe the news I just got  
Zam: I’ll tell you all everything tomorrow!!!

Zam turned his phone off, then set in on the bedside table. He couldn’t wait to tell his friends about everything. But now, he had to get some shut eye.

Monday  
9:43pm

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Tune in next time to see what Zam gets up to tomorrow!
> 
> (sorry if the radio section was kinda weird, i almost never listen to radio so i just winged it and wrote what i think happens on radio channels haha)


End file.
